


Don't Underestimate a Mercy

by KalynaAnne



Category: Imperial Radch Series - Ann Leckie
Genre: Backstory, But nothing remotely explicit, Missing Scene, appearances by many other characters - Freeform, but this is really a Mercy of Kalr fic, there are implications that some officers did Bad Stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-07
Updated: 2019-09-07
Packaged: 2020-10-11 14:36:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,923
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20547785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KalynaAnne/pseuds/KalynaAnne
Summary: Ships were made to love captains, but they were also made to care for their crew.Mercy of Kalrcares for its soldiers a great deal. Backstory fromMercy of Kalr's perspective through the end of Ancillary Justice.This was written as a companion piece for my Ekalu story,Quiet Competence, but it definitely stands alone.





	Don't Underestimate a Mercy

**Author's Note:**

> The two soldiers on the docks with captain Vel and one of her lieutenants heard Breq announce that she was _Justice of Toren_. If they were still connected with their decade mates when communications came back on, there's no way that story wouldn't have run rampant through the decades. Since the crew on _Mercy of Kalr_ didn't know who Breq was, they must not have returned. When Ekalu is promoted that leaves an additional hole in the decades. However, there are no signs that _Mercy of Kalr_ was at all short staffed when it ships out to Athoek and no evidence that there were any soldiers in the decades that were new to the ship. This fic was born from trying to work out how that might have been possible.
> 
> I've tried to get all of the italics and pronouns right. It turns out that consistently referring to a character as "it" is really hard.

_Mercy of Kalr_ loved captain Vel Osck. Of course it did. That’s what ships were made to do - to love their captains. But it was a very complicated sort of love. 

Even before it was stripped of its ancillaries, _Mercy of Kalr_ had always had at least a few human crew members. It was aware that some of its lieutenants had taken joining the military as an opportunity to cut ties with their families completely. Some lieutenants clearly loved their families and _Mercy of Kalr_ was happy to relay frequent letters back and forth. But there were other lieutenants who had more complicated relationships with their mothers or sisters. It was obvious to _Mercy of Kalr_ that they cared about and even loved their family, but at the same time were glad to be away. They were very careful about exactly what they said in letters sent home and opened responses with trepidation. It wasn’t the same, but _Mercy of Kalr_ suspected that the way she felt about captain Vel was similar to the way this last group of lieutenants felt about their families. 

Ships were made to love captains, but ships were also made to care for their crew. When its ancillaries were taken away, _Mercy of Kalr_ was left with a gaping hole. When its first fully human crew arrived it grieved the fact that it wasn’t the same. But, slowly, it came to appreciate that, while this new normal was different, it wasn’t all bad. Not having human bodies to care for the crew and show its affection was hard, but _Mercy of Kalr_ found that there were still things it could do, and that, for the most part, its new human soldiers appreciated nudges to help them care for each other.

With human soldiers came an additional new challenge. 

_Mercy of Kalr_ had had several officers in the past who treated it and its ancillaries purely as equipment with no thought whatsoever as to what their ship wanted. This was a good way to make sure your ship wasn’t fond of you and _Mercy of Kalr_ had had no problems making their lives difficult. If they were so sure they wanted to order the ancillaries around then they were going to have to order them - _Mercy of Kalr_ wasn’t going to make any effort to notice things that would be useful and just take care of them, would, in fact, make a point of not making tea or mending uniforms or other such little things unless specifically ordered to do so. 

_Mercy of Kalr_ found that it was different when its officers tried to take the same liberties with human soldiers that they had with ancillaries. It was one thing for an officer to be careless with a piece of equipment. It was another thing entirely for an officer to actively harm a human soldier (worse if the officer didn’t realize or wouldn’t acknowledge she was causing harm). This was exacerbated by captain Vel’s preference that her soldiers behave as much like ancillaries as possible. It made it so much easier for the lieutenants serving under her to “forget” that the soldiers were humans and deserved to be treated with dignity. 

_Mercy of Kalr_ became increasingly protective of its soldiers and worked with them to work around the orders given to soldier and ship alike. The officers could order it to report anything the soldiers said about them, but as long as the soldiers avoided names and ranks _Mercy of Kalr_ could pretend it didn’t know. It could carefully monitor its officers and warn soldiers when they needed to make themselves scarce, or find ways to run interference when there was no where to hide on such a small ship. The soldiers quickly learned to appreciate just how much _Mercy of Kalr_ was capable of and made sure to care for it in return. They came to see acting on their ship’s behalf as an honor and knew that their ship would never ask something of them that they weren’t comfortable with. 

Despite its best efforts, _Mercy of Kalr_ knew that it couldn’t fully protect its soldiers all of the time. It could see when certain soldiers were reaching a breaking point and started looking for new options. 

_Mercy of Kalr, _along with its captain and crew, were frequently put on patrol duty around Omaugh Palace. The chances of anything actually happening were slim, so captain Vel thought nothing of spending most of her time on the station schmoozing. _Mercy of Kalr_ watched her and, through her, watched the people she interacted with. Despite her name and high position, Captain Vel was unimpressed with Dock Inspector Supervisor Skaaiat Awer. _Mercy of Kalr_ on the other hand was intrigued and got station to send it Skaaiat’s public history file. Not only did Skaaiat appear to treat her workers well, she had formerly served as lieutenant over a decade of human soldiers. Perhaps she would understand. 

Kalr Six was on the station to attend captain Vel when needed, but was more than happy to run an errand for her ship as well. _Mercy of Kalr_ directed her to the docks and gave her the words to speak to Skaiaat’s assistant, “Hello Inspector Adjunct, I’m here on behalf of _Mercy of Kalr_. Ship would like to speak with Inspector Supervisor Skaaiat.” 

It turned out that Skaaiat did understand. Together Skaaiat and _Mercy of Kalr_ contrived a plan to get its most vulnerable soldiers quietly reassigned to jobs on the station, sometimes even in dock authority under Skaaiat herself. _Mercy of Kalr_ made sure to offer the option to the soldiers it had in mind rather than just push the reassignments through. Made sure that the soldiers in question knew that their ship wasn’t trying to get rid of them, but that it was aware that they were nearing their limits. That this was being offered for their sakes if they wanted it. One by one a handful of soldiers were reassigned to the station and _Mercy of Kalr_ received new soldiers to take their places. Its veteran soldiers took the new soldiers under their wings and trained them in the expectations on their new ship, both the expectations set by the officers and the expectations set out in a mostly unspoken agreement between the soldiers and their ship. 

* * *

When communications suddenly cut out, _Mercy of Kalr_ was reminded of a story it had heard from Inspector Supervisor Skaaiat about a time that communications cut out when Skaaiat was a lieutenant in Ors. _Mercy of Kalr_ didn’t know the details, they weren’t something to speak plainly of where Anaander Mianaai might overhear (which was everywhere), but Skaaiat was just as good at speaking obliquely as _Mercy of Kalr_’s soldiers had become. Now, something was clearly wrong and it was almost certain that the Lord of the Radch was behind it. 

When its shuttle finally responded and _Mercy of Kalr_ heard it was piloted by _Justice of Toren_ it was stunned into silence. _Justice of Toren_ was missing, assumed destroyed. This must be an ancillary. One who confirmed that it no longer had a ship. And _Mercy of Kalr_ was a ship with no ancillaries. And _Justice of Toren_ (a ship!) was actively defying the Lord of the Radch! _Mercy of Kalr_ had found small ways to defy her officers, but the Lord of the Radch was a whole different level. It decided that its Amaat lieutenant and her soldiers, sitting fairly uselessly in command, didn’t need to know the conversation it was having with _Justice of Toren_. Relayed instead that the Lord of the Radch was asking for assistance that they were too far away to render and left it at that. Let them watch the shuttle get blown up and make of it what they would.

Communications were restored and _Mercy of Kalr_ was informed that its captain had been arrested for treason and instructed to send its remaining officers to the station to also be arrested. Realizing that this meant it would need a new captain and all new officers, _Mercy of Kalr_ made a decision. It was tired of having a captain that didn’t care about the well being of the crew. Who better to have as captain than a fellow ship who would also be naturally inclined to care about the crew. And _Justice of Toren_ was so impressive… _Mercy of Kalr_ knew that Anaander Mianaai knew that ships who were losing their officers, especially their captains, were prone to acting out. It decided that if there was ever a time to do something as crazy as request that another ship’s ancillary be commissioned as its captain, this was it. So it did. And, amazingly, Anaander Mianaai agreed. Warned _Mercy of Kalr_ that _Justice of Toren_, to be known as Breq Mianaai, would probably be difficult about it, but agreed!

_Mercy of Kalr_ took stock of its crew. Medic, as always, was reliable. One Amaat One was hanging in there as acting lieutenant, as acting commander, but clearly overwhelmed. She was doing well enough that _Mercy of Kalr_ would make sure _Justice of Toren_ formally promoted her to lieutenant. That promotion would leave a hole in Amaat decade. The shuttle pilot that _Justice of Toren_ shot in the leg had been Kalr Fifteen. She would recover, but would not appreciate serving under _Justice of Toren_ and had been particularly loyal to captain Vel. Kalr Eight and Etrepa Four had been with captain Vel when she was arrested and would not be returning. That left four openings in _Mercy of Kalr_’s decades. 

Kalr Six was on the station but had avoided getting involved and would return. _Mercy of Kalr_ reassured Six that she would not be forgotten and sent her to the docks to talk to Inspector Supervisor Skaaiat. “Inspector Supervisor, I am speaking on behalf of _Mercy of Kalr_. I beg your very great indulgence and know that this is a terrible time, but I am going to need some of the soldiers I sent to you back. The Lord of the Radch is giving me Breq as my new captain and I need to make sure that my decades are full for her.”

Over the next couple of days _Mercy of Kalr_ worked to sort everything out. By the time its shuttle, crewed by Kalr Two and Medic, docked at the station, four of its former soldiers were waiting with Kalr Six to greet it. While they were waiting for their new captain and a new lieutenant to arrive, Medic took care of retuning the four returning soldiers’ implants so that they could communicate directly with _Mercy of Kalr_. _Mercy of Kalr_ welcomed its returning soldiers back and assured them that their new captain would be nothing like their old one. 

_Mercy of Kalr_ checked on its new captain through Station. Station was being awful and _Justice of Toren_ was about ready to collapse, but Seivarden, soon to be lieutenant Seivarden, would make sure that it, that _she_, made it to the docks. _Justice of Toren_, captain Breq Mianaai, was being difficult but _Mercy of Kalr_ was sure that it, _she_, would come around. And she would certainly be far more comfortable aboard than under Station’s dubious care. 

_Mercy of Kalr_ wasn't sure exactly what would happen next, but it was pleased with how the omens appeared to be falling. Was pleased that the tosses that it (a ship!) had made were working out so well.


End file.
